THE BEST WHEATS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1775, 14 March 1906, Page 60

THE BEST WHEATS.

Wheat-growing in Australia is of course subject to different conditions from those which obtain in this colony, and for that reason varieties which are found most suitable there are possibly, not } those which would do' best in New Zealand. Nevertheless, as a matter of general interest, an article on the practical experiences of several Victorian growers contributed to the “Leader” by Mr J. L. Dow, is worth partial quotation. After referring to the first and second ! prize-taking exhibits at the Kerang ? wheat competition last year, both of 1 which were of the variety known as Dart's Imperial Mr Dow says: “What the practical wheat grower desires to know is the best variety of seed to select, and this, of course, is a question largely dependent upon his surrounding conditions. Among the seed breeders who have done a large amount of valuable work for Australia are Mr Hugh Pyeand Mr McAlpine, in Victoria; Mr Wm. Farrer, in New South Wales; and Messrs Richard Marshall and Joseph Correll, in South Australia. So numerous are the different varieties that they are apt to become somewhat confusing. The scientific experimenting, however, has been very largely supplemented by the operations of the practical farmers (in which class is included Messrs Marshall and Correll), and by their help a i 1 myriad of varieties has been reduced to \ something under a dozen in all, while ;* for actual use the varieties now found 1 most suitable do not go beyond three or four. As far as the wheat growing areas of South Australia, Victoria end Riverina are concerned, the general conditions are so similar that what is found most suitable for one is, on the whole, fairly well the same for all. A wheat for these ireas requires to have four essential qualities; first, it ~ must be an early variety, sufficiently early to escape the hot winds at harvest time; second, it has to have drought resisting capacity, and together with thriving on a limited rainfall; third, it has to have the power of holding the grain when ripe without Wi a king, and fourth, it has to be a sample acceptable by the miller, “For the more northerly regions, such | czis these resembling the Victorian niallee, j Dart's Imperial, according to the expert’. » ences of the majority of the growers, most fully fulfils the qualities just enuI delated; while the Purple Straw varie■i'es are the best wherever the conditions l "re a little more generous than the extreme north with respect to rainfall, as, for example, such district® as the southern part of the Wimmera, the Goulburn Valley, and the new wheat country now being opened up on the Skipton Plains,

"Of the Purple Straw varieties, one that has established itself in favour during the past couple of yeans is the Steer s Early Purple. At the Kerang competition this was exemplified in the case of Mr A. Grogan’s exhibit of this variety, from Runnymede. on the Ec'huoa line, which equalled the first prize taker in weight, viz., 671 b Boz, and with its yield of 32 bushels exceeded it by 6 bushels per acre. This exhibit was a fine even, bright coloured sample, and in its close shotty quality indicated a closer relationship to the Dart’s Imperial variety than to the larger berry which usually characterises the ordinary Purple Straw. As a further evidence of the quality of this variety, Mr Lam rock, of the Ixoulburn Valley, was a leading prize taker with it at the last competition for wheat seed prizes annually offered, by the Dookie Agricultural 'Society. Tins crop, inspected by the writer early in December last, comprised 90 acres drilled in early in the previous May on fallow land, at the rate of 40lb of seed and 4-lb or super to the acre respectively. this crop was exceedingly even and uniform throughout, the ears heavily filled with good, plump, clean gram. This crop at harvest averaged bags, or -6 bushels, per acre throughout the 90 acres. iiie first prize at the Dookie competition was given to another Goulbtirn Valley grower—Mr M. Ryan—for a sample of Red Straw', which, as one of the I urple Straw family, adds evidence m support of the excellence of this variety of wheat for all areas other than the extremely arid.” . Summarising notes on varieties contributed to the "Leader” from various districts, Mr Dow' finds that in the dry mallee country generally Dart’s Imperial and Purple Straw are mostly accounted best. Marshall’s No. 3fa South Australian variety) and Steinw-edel run these close, the latter being noted as a droughtresister, heavy yielder, of good milling quality, ’and having but one objectionable feature—“a tendency to shaking.” From the central mallee country to tlie Murray the same varieties are in favour, except that Purple Straw is noted .as requiring rather than that district usually gets. rrom districts more favourably situated for rainfall Dart’s Imperial, Purple Straw', Red Straw, Steer’s Early Purple and Steinw r edel are named as best.. _ Dart’s Imperial is especially noted as a good yielder and as bearing the weather well and being an ideal wheat for stripping. It is also recommended strongly for early sow'ing. Farmer s Friend and Frantpton are tw'o varieties recommended by farmers of the fertile Goulburn Valley. The former, like Red Straw', is pronounced by Mr Dow' as "evidently a member of the old reliable Purple Straw.” Frampton is mentioned as a good hay-growing variety. In reference to the prize-winning exhibits of Dart’s Imperial referred to in the beginning of this article, the first prize taken weighed 671 b Boz to the bushel and the winner of second was heavier, but of slightly inferior colour. It w'ent 671 b 12oz to the bushel.